The snow will melt and the icy grip of winter will fade, but not without inflicting serious damage to our roads. In the meantime, the season of bone-rattling potholes has started.

"It's the worst I've ever seen," said Mike A. Nystrom, vice president of Government and Public Relations for the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association in Okemos. The group represents road and bridge builders, underground contractors and other construction interests.

"This year's potholes will be the worst on record," Nystrom predicted. "Ironically, we aren't even in the worst of pothole season yet."

Jeff Schrier | The Saginaw NewsCourt Street in Saginaw is full of potholes that motorists must dodge. Shown are potholes on Court near Harrison.

The worst, Nystrom said, typically comes in early to mid-March. Potholes develop as a result of the intense freeze-thaw cycle.

"We've had such dramatic swings," Nystrom said, "from 50 degrees a few weeks ago to deep freezes to a snow storm."

The heavy snow melts and the water sinks beneath the road then refreezes. The underground ice then rises to the surface, pushing chunks of asphalt up and outwards. This will leave roads pocked with craters once the state eases into a steady thaw in March.

"We'll patch (the potholes) as they come," said Brian J. Wendling, interim manager with the Saginaw County Road Commission, "but nothing out of our normal procedure."

Nystrom is quick to point out such a predicament was not unavoidable.

"We wouldn't be in this situation if the legislators stepped up to the plate and increased transportation funding," he said. "Things will be dire on local levels, on municipal and county roads. We have Lansing policy-makers who legislate by crisis, and if they continue to neglect the needs of the transportation network, we will be in a crisis situation."

According to The Road Information Program in Washington, D.C., decrepit roads cost the average Michigan taxpayer $318 per year. The national nonprofit group specializes in transportation research.

Relief is not on the horizon this spring. Michigan's road and bridge repair system is suffering crippling cuts because of declining gasoline tax revenues and the end of the state's Jobs Today bonding. Last week, Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm announced that a task force and advisory committee will study long-term transportation funding. The first report is due Friday, Oct. 31.

One way road crews mend potholes is with cold patch, soft and pliable asphalt. Another uses machines to spray a stone concoction into the holes, compacting them from the bottom up.

Bouncing through the holes with your car can cause a variety of damage, such as punctured tires and misaligned steering systems.

"You can bend rims and cause excess, or premature, wear on struts, mounts and shocks," said Zac Jones, manager of Northwest Tire & Service, 2710 Tittabawassee in Saginaw. A car's front suspension is also a common casualty of potholes.

"You can wear it out a lot quicker than you would driving in conditions it was designed for," Jones said.

The state Department of Transportation has a hotline motorists can call to report potholes on state-maintained roads (those beginning with the letters M, I, or U.S.). The number is (888) 296-4546. Motorists who spot potholes on other roads must call county road commissions.

Cole Waterman is a staff writer for The Saginaw News. You may reach him at 776-9715.